Weight loss leads to business venture

Jul. 3, 2013

Kay Traver opened Kay's Nutrition, which sells 75 different flavors of nutrition shakes, after she and her husband lost a combined 120 pounds using the shakes as meal replacements. The shop is open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Saturday. / Sheri Trusty/News Herald correspondent

Written by

Sheri Trusty

News Herald correspondent

IF YOU GO

Kay’s Nutrition is at 339 Rice Street in Elmore and can be reached at 419-862-2085. It is open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

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ELMORE — A combined 120-pound weight loss inspired a local couple to open a shop in downtown Elmore that sells the nutrition shakes they used to become healthier.

Marty and Kay Traver opened Kay’s Nutrition on May 25.

Last October, the couple tried a meal replacement shake at a community event in Genoa. They liked the taste and decided to try using them as nutritional supplements.

They began drinking meal replacement shakes for breakfast and lunch each day. Seven months later, Marty was 70 pounds lighter, and Kay had lost 50 pounds.

“We decided to open the shop because we wanted to help other people feel better and be healthy,” Kay said.

Kay’s Nutrition sells the shakes in a variety of flavors for customers who want to have a healthy choice for breakfast and lunch. Customers can drink the shakes in the shop or take them to go.

When a customer purchases a shake, it comes with a shot of aloe and an herbal tea. The Travers also stock and sell the shake mixes for at-home preparation. Shake mixes come in eight flavors, including French vanilla and Dutch chocolate. At the shop, those mixes are combined with other ingredients to create 75 shake options such as chocolate-covered strawberry, cinnamon roll and banana berry.

Kay said she gives shake recipes to customers when they buy shake mixes to take home. She said the variety of flavors motivated her to stick with the program through the last several months. The nutrition shakes take the place of a meal, she said.

“You drink two a day if you want to lose weight,” she said. “If you want to maintain your weight, it’s one a day. They’re a complete meal.

“When you drink one, it has what you’d get in a meal. In fact, it’s more nutritious.”

The aloe shots, which come in regular or mango flavor, help clean the digestive system, Kay said.

“They help with acid reflux,” she said. “I was on a prescription for acid reflux, and I got off it just by drinking the aloe.”